Editor's Note: George W. Bush frequently states that the U.S. government's highest
duty is to protect the safety of Americans. But many traditional
conservatives -- as well as many other Americans -- disagree with Bush's
priority. They believe that the first responsibility of any President is
to defend the Constitution and its guarantees of individual liberty.

In this guest essay, William Frey, a founder of "Republicans for
Humility," explains why he and other conservative Republicans are upset
with the direction of the Bush administration and the GOP-controlled
Congress:

Why are Republican conservatives
calling for an end to One Party GOP Rule?

Why are many now discussing the virtues
of divided government?

On what basis do they believe One Party Rule has dishonored conservative
values?

They focused, instead, on the neglected limited government ideals on which the
conservative movement was founded:

·individual freedom,

·fiscal responsibility,

·constitutional restraints on unchecked executive power,

·prudent and principled foreign policy.

Why do these
conservatives believe today's Republican Party has betrayed these values?

How has it come about that today's authoritarian, big government GOP has
maintained the language of traditional conservatism even while
mutating into a governing party whose policies produce the opposite?

Principled conservatives now widely recognize that the authoritarian, fear
mongering, Big Brother, big government ideology peddled by GOP politicians and
pseudo-populist radio demagogues is anything but conservative.

How has today's GOP come to embrace such an ideology?

To a large measure, GOP success has relied on, not only the nominal retention,
but the conspicuous veneration of the slogans and symbols of the traditional
small-government conservatism the Republican Party has, in reality, abandoned.

The approach of GOP strategists to cultural conservatives has been
similarly disingenuous: Despite complaints from conservative Christians that the
GOP cynically resurrects highly visible and symbolic wedge issues on a 2 year
cycle rhythmically synchronized with the campaign cycle, the GOP has, by
choosing symbolism over substance on cultural issues, avoided offending
corporate elites who do not share the religious and social convictions of the
GOP's foot soldiers from the religious right.

But in contrast to their duplicitous treatment of small government
conservatives, of libertarians, and of conservative Christians, the GOP has been
consistently faithful to one group: For corporate lobbyists,
today's GOP has been ever-willing to compromise both fiscal and free enterprise
principles.

While profligately increasing the cost to taxpayers, GOP Congressmen have, at
the behest of drug companies, repeatedly fought against re-importation of
Canadian drugs - free market solution that would lower prescription drug prices
not only for seniors , but for all Americans, without burden to taxpayers, a
concept supported by
candidate George W. Bush.

Principled conservatives are not fooled by such substitution of Republican
corporate welfare for genuine competitive enterprise.

"For years,
congressional Republicans have sold themselves to conservatives as the
continuation of the Reagan revolution. We were told that they would take on the
Washington special interests -- that they would,
in essence, tear down K Street
and sow the earth with salt to make sure nothing ever grew there again.

"But over time, most of them turned into the sort of unprincipled power brokers
they had ousted in 1994. They lost interest in furthering conservative ideas,
and they turned their attention to getting their share of the pork.
Conservatives did not spend decades going door to door, staffing phone banks and
compiling lists of like-minded voters so Republican congressmen could have
highways named after them and so there could be an affirmative-action program
for Republican lobbyists."

Principled conservatives recognize that
the economic strength of American free enterprise comes from an environment
conducive to entrepreneurial innovation and a thriving middle class, not in GOP
favoritism of stagnant and corrupt corporate and financial elites at the expense
of the middle class.

But today's GOP now poses to
America
a threat more fundamental than economic misadventures.

Principled conservatives recognize that authoritarian, big government
"conservatism", even when irreverently wrapped in our flag and mimicking the
language of faith, is alien to America and subversive to our values.

For generations, America
has stood as a beacon of liberty, and our constitution a monument to the Rule of
Law.

But we now witness a governing Republican Party which has adopted a theory of
presidential power - the "unitary executive" theory - that nullifies
Congressional, judicial and constitutional checks on presidential power.

Almost beyond belief, Republicans historically committed to due process and to
constitutional restraints on federal and presidential power, now:

refuse to confront an
administration which has claimed the right to hold an American citizen,
apprehended domestically,
indefinitely without charges

Unlike the radio "conservatives" who would polarize America and demonize all but
their most sheepish followers as "Democrats, liberals, or RINO's", principled
conservatives now recognize that the core values which the authoritarian GOP has
abandoned (individual liberty, fiscal responsibility, the rule of law,
prudent foreign policy) are more important than partisan victory.

Fortunately, these values, though essential to true conservatives, are not
exclusive to conservatives.

Our nation's founders did not even consider such values to be "conservative" at
all, but characterized such a philosophy centered on liberty as, of all things,
"liberal".

But whatever name is applied to these quintessentially American values, it is
clear that today's authoritarian GOP has forsaken them.

To the consternation of these Big Government Republicans, the ideals of
individual liberty protected by the rule of law, and prudent fiscal and foreign
policy, are once again serving as a uniting force --- an area where common
ground is being found by thoughtful conservatives, moderates, and liberals of
good will.

Today's Republican politicians have not only repudiated conservative principles
of constitutional restraints on federal and executive power, but now support
policies diametrically opposed to historical Republican positions.

Such GOP reversals on issues of fundamental constitutional principles abound. On
each of these issues, the current GOP position is disconnected from the
convictions of virtually all Republicans on such issues as recently as 1 decade
ago:

And in each case, if true conservatives who honor the rule of law are to find
Congressional allies in their fight against unrestrained presidential power, it
is no longer true that those allies will be on the Republican side of the aisle.

When the Orwellian named PATRIOT Act was enacted in 2001, Republican
House Majority Leader Dick Armey both supported the act AND fought hard to
insert a sunset clause, so that the provisions of the act would truly, in fact,
be temporary.

Armey's conservatism was inseparable from his commitment to civil liberties. In
his
farewell address before he retired as Majority Leader in 2003, Armey
passionately warned of those who would promise security in exchange for
liberty.

Similarly, honest fiscal conservatives such as the
Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (who dared to
oppose the pet pork-barrel projects of
fellow GOP politicians) have been driven by the Republican leadership into
early retirement, even as the GOP establishment has coddled criminals.

Establishment GOP politicians who have abandoned their fundamental ideals
are now aghast that principled conservative Republicans are seeking allies among
Democrats.

But the principles that are most dear to principled conservatives - individual
liberty protected by the rule of law - transcend partisanship.

While principled liberals and conservatives have substantial differences
regarding the interpretation and implementation of these principles, the tragic
reality is that a power-drunk big government GOP establishment now threatens the
very constitutional restraints that protect our liberties, our democracy, and
our free and open society.

William Niskanen's work clearly demonstrates that fiscal policy is consistently
more restrained under
divided government than under one party domination.

But it is the actual behavior of Republicans under this era of One Party Rule
that has clearly demonstrated the tangible threat to the Rule of Law, to
individual liberty, and to our constitutional system.

Unlike today's win-at-all-costs GOP, many true conservatives believe that only a
Democratic congressional victory will restore the balanced, divided, and
representative government through which America has long maintained our
values.

And only a Democratic victory will allow the reflection within the Republican
Party necessary for a reorientation to American democratic values.

Republicans now firmly in control of party machinery, addicted to power, and
committed to a toxic authoritarian ideology they falsely call "conservative"
will not be dislodged without a Democratic victory.

William Frey, M.D.,
who has practiced medicine for 27 years, is a founding member of
Republicans for Humility,
which advocates the return to the unifying American values of humble
foreign policy, constitutional government, and respect for individual
liberties, and stands in opposition to the recent dominance within the
Republican Party of policies favoring unilateral military expansion,
empire, and the accompanying erosion of civil liberties. He is author of
Is George W. Bush a Conservative?